A luxury car brand backed by former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has filed for bankruptcy. A procedure is intended to reorganize the financial basis and clarify the ownership structure.
Automaker Radford Motors has filed for bankruptcy. The company’s owners include former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button and TV presenter Ant Anstead.
According to “Motor1”, so-called Chapter 11 debt restructuring proceedings have been initiated in a court in the US state of Delaware. The lawsuit, which affects parent company Finest Coachbuilding Group LLC, is intended to allow Radford Motors to reorganize financial obligations and change its ownership structure.
CFO Dan Bednarski told Motor1 that the ownership structure was currently “incompatible.” The restructuring will allow the company to remain active in day-to-day operations while working on a long-term solution. In addition to Button and Anstead, the owners also include designer Mark Stubbs, lawyer Roger Behle and Izzy Roa. Button and his partners revived the traditional brand in 2021 and introduced the Type 62-2, a new edition of the Lotus Type 62.
The economic difficulties are surprising since Radford Motors initially attracted a lot of attention as a manufacturer of high-priced, hand-built sports cars. However, the company is now facing civil allegations against some co-owners, including mismanagement and embezzlement.
However, Bednarski emphasized that courts have repeatedly found that there is insufficient evidence to support these allegations. According to him, the company is by no means on the verge of extinction, but is preparing for a future with “new energy and confidence”.
Radford Motors has announced that it will seek new funding to continue production. The plan is to continue producing the Type 62-2, which was developed for special sporting events such as the mountain race on Pikes Peak in 2023. A special racing version of the vehicle was offered there after the race for around one million dollars.
It remains unclear whether the Type 62-2 will be able to establish itself on the market. Sales figures, prices or production costs have not yet been published, and it remains to be seen whether Radford Motors can be economically stabilized in the long term.